


Final Touches

by IBoatedHere



Series: Post Bleachers: Domestic Bliss [2]
Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 15:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IBoatedHere/pseuds/IBoatedHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys decorate the apartment. </p><p>OR. </p><p>The boys do it on every surface of the apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Final Touches

“I think you need furniture.” 

Caleb moved into the apartment a month ago. 

He's working two jobs. 

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays he’s at a small cafe on campus that’s always, always, packed. When he gets off he drops by Ben’s room with a coffee and a leftover bagel and flops onto his bed, exhausted from being on his feet all day. He smells like coffee beans and when Ben’s done working he collapses on top of him and breathes him in, saying that the smell is better than the actual caffeine. 

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays he’s employed by a small fishing charter that takes people out into the sound for a day on the water. Ben’s waiting for him in his apartment with pizza. Caleb comes home stinking like fish and saltwater and sun and Ben refuses to touch him (refuses to even though Caleb comes at him laughing with his arms spread out to bear hug him. Ben has to stick his foot into his chest, easy to do from where he’s perched on the counter to keep him back) until he has taken a shower. 

They’ve built themselves a nice little life around that routine. They split time between the apartment and Ben’s room. 

It’s been a month and all of Caleb’s possessions are in a neat pile by the door. 

The apartment came with all the appliances but no furniture. He’s been spending his nights in a sleeping bag in the master bedroom. 

“Do you have a rich uncle that just died or something?” Caleb laughs. 

“You're working now.”

“Yeah, minimum wage.”

“Times two. I'll help out. I'm here enough.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“There's an IKEA not too far from here. I've never been.”

Caleb groans and rolls over in the sleeping bag. 

“I'm not going to to Ikea. It's overpriced but cheaply made.”

“Then go to a thrift store or something. I can't keep sleeping on the floor. It's messing with my shoulder.”

Caleb wraps his arm around Ben's waist and drags him close. “You don't get to use your shoulder to help you win at something when you tell me it's not that bad when I worry about it.”

“But think about how nice it'll be to watch Netflix on a TV instead of a laptop. Or to have a couch? Real plates and cups. Think about a bed.” He brushes his lips against the side of Caleb's neck and Caleb seems to start to take notice. “Just think about it. A big, sturdy, bed.” He slides his leg over Caleb's hips. “King size. With a strong headboard.” 

“What would you do with the headboard?”

“What do you think I want to do with the headboard?” Ben mumbles and Caleb whimpers just a little. “But let's not stop there. We should think about what we could do with a couch and a chair, and a kitchen table,” He slides his hands down to the front of Caleb’s sweatpants. “Do you understand what I'm trying to say?”

“I think you're saying you wanna have sex on a kitchen table.”

“No, I'm saying I want to do it on every surface of this apartment but you only have one surface.” He puts his hand flat on the floor. “And it's hardwood.”

“You loved the hardwood.”

“The hardwood is rough on my knees.”

“Say hardwood again.” Caleb pants. Ben rolls his eyes but leans down and whispers it in his ear anyways. “We did it in the shower.”

“Yeah, and we almost died.

“There has to be a better way. There just has to be.”

“You can look into that. Right now I’m worried about my knees.”

“You know it doesn't always have to be your knees.”

“Oh, trust me, I know, but that's not the point. The point is that we're young, in love, and you have your own completely private place. Zero chance someone will walk in on us. We should be celebrating all over the place.”

“God. Can you remember when you were a blushing virgin?”

“Those days are long gone, thanks to you. We don't even have blinds in the kitchen. That's the only reason why we haven't fucked on the island.”

“I make food there.”

“You make nothing there because you have no pots or pans and you only have paper plates and plastic forks that I swipe for you from the dining hall. And we need a table to put the spider plant that Nathan got for you on. It's dying. It needs sunlight. Now,” He pulls himself on top if Caleb, straddling his thighs. Caleb starts to slides his hands up Ben's legs but Ben bats them away. “Now, we don't have to go to Ikea. I think my dad has some stuff in the attic we can use and there are tons of thrifts stores around here. But we have to get a new mattress, I'm drawing the line there. Used mattresses make me queasy.” 

“A king sized mattress is expensive.”

“A queen then. Or full.” 

Caleb frowns and Ben moves his hips just enough to create friction then moves away. 

“Okay, okay, okay, fine, Jesus where did you you learn how to negotiate like this.”

“I go to Yale.”

“I have a hard time believing that they'd teach you this.”

“They teach you to know your enemy and their weaknesses,” He shifts again. “And I know all of yours.”

“Only because I let you know.”

“That's what you think.”

*****

Blinds in the kitchen are the first thing to go up.

Caleb's swinging his legs off the side of the kitchen island when Ben comes in. 

“Now we have some privacy. Come over here.” 

Ben steps between his legs and kisses him, hands sliding up and down his chest until they settle at the button of his jeans and Caleb hops down and leans Ben against the edge in one smooth movement. 

“Lets give my knees a turn.” He says as he drops down in front of him. 

*****

Nathan finds them a couch. He knows a guy who knows a guy that's moving and he can't take it with him. It’s nice. It smells vaguely of beer, cigarettes, and weed but Caleb leaves all the windows open in the apartment and uses almost an entire bottle of Febreeze on it. 

“Do you remember that time in high school when we were on your couch and your dad walked in on us?”

“Oh god.” Ben is pinned beneath him on the couch. He's a little sweaty from the game and Caleb got his jersey and t-shirt off right when he got in the door. He's still has one cleat on. The other was kicked under the couch. “Why would you bring that up?”

“Because this is what would have happened if he didn't come in. A little less awkward, probably and you're, well.”

“What am I?”

“You know I've always thought you were hot but time has treated you very well. You're not some lanky awkward kid anymore. I'd die happy if you wore this uniform all the time.”

“If you want me to wear it longer you shouldn't jump me right when I walk in.”

“I can't help it. Watching you out there was killing me. It was like 2 hours of foreplay. You're lucky I didn't tear into you in the car.”

“You could've.”

“Next time. We gotta break in the couch.”

Ben laughs and Caleb kisses him quiet. 

“Wait, wait, wait, you thought I was lanky and awkward?” 

“In a hot way. I called you hot too. But your arms and legs were so long, man.”

“All right, all right, whatever. Shut up and give me an awkward handjob.”

“Will do.” 

*****

Ben's dad has one coffee table and three lamps in the attic. 

They're not horrible looking but they are in the back corner and Ben and Caleb spend the day taking everything out so they can get to them. 

They wade through box after box of stuffed animals, Legos, and matchbox cars. Ben finds the onesie he was brought home from the hospital in and Sam’s baby blanket. 

At lunch time Nate brings them sandwiches and finds them sifting through report cards from elementary school, Caleb laughing at the comments. 

“‘Can be disruptive at times’, what did you do?”

“That was third grade. That was my rebellious year.”

“Yeah, you got a B+ in math, a true rebel.” 

They find photo albums with relatives that date back to the 1800s and even more from Ben's childhood. 

“Your parents took a lot of pictures. I thought they stopped caring about the youngest.”

“No, my mom was always taking picture. That's why she's not in many of them.” 

Caleb tucks himself into his side with his head on his shoulder and listens to Ben tell story after story about his mom. 

It's late when they drive back to New Haven. Ben's asleep with his head against the window with a gift card in his pocket from his dad for Best Buy so they can buy a TV and three photo albums on his lap. 

*****

They buy a book shelf off a senior on campus for fifty bucks. 

Caleb stacks all his travel books on it and Ben doesn't resent them nearly as much anymore. They're mixed in with books about small towns to visit in New England and local treasures to be found in New Haven and Ben's family albums. 

******

After finals Ben brings all his stuff from his dorm to Caleb’s. It beats bringing it all the way back to Long Island. 

Caleb bought a four drawer dresser at a thrift store the week before and leaves two of them empty for him.  
Ben jams all his clothes into one drawer. He has a hard time getting it to close and when Caleb walks in on him struggling with it he shakes his head, softly calls him stupid, opens the drawer and dumps half his clothes into the free one. 

“I gave you two for a reason.”

Ben re-folds the clothes and says “I didn’t want to take up anymore of your space.”

“My space is your space,” He ruffles his hair and leaves him to it. 

*****

Sarah sends 100% organic cotton sheets, fancy soaps for the bathroom and candles along with framed photos taken from Caleb's Facebook page; the Eiffel Tower at night in black and white, the Grand Canyon at sunrise, their graduation photo, the two of them looking at each other with love written all over their faces. They hang the landscapes in the living room and the other in their bedroom.

*****

Caleb finds a set of dishware at Goodwill.

Ben picks up a set of silverware on clearance at Target.

Caleb makes him a spare key and leave it on the counter for him to find. Caleb doesn’t say anything about it so neither does he. 

*****

Caleb buys a bed frame and headboard off craigslist. 

He's assembling them when Ben comes in, standing in the doorway and looking down at his phone. 

“Hey, what do you want to do for dinner?” He looks up. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” Caleb spins around on the wood floor, cross legged with screwdriver in his hand. “You like it? Got one for the spare room too so I'm closer to kicking you out of here. It was a steal.” 

“Did you steal it?” He walks over and shakes the headboard. It doesn't move and Caleb is clearly proud. 

“Got it off Craigslist so who knows where it came from before I got it.” 

Ben kicks off his shoes and puts his phone down on the nightstand (found with a free sign on it on the curb a few blocks over. It's painted olive green and is hideous but it's better than the two milk crates stacked together that are on the other side.) 

“We won't be able to get a mattress until the weekend.”

“I thought you only had to worked until noon tomorrow,” He takes the screwdriver from his hand and kicks the rest of the tools away. 

“Yeah but you have classes all day and won't get out of your lab until 8.” 

“So go without me.”

“I am but picking out a mattress for the two of us on my own.” 

Ben blinks at him then drops down and pushing him against the floor, hand behind his head on the way down. 

“You gonna bitch about your knees?” Caleb mumbles between kisses as Ben peels his shirt over his head. 

“Shut up,” but he's laughing and lifting Caleb's hands to the bottom of the headboard. His fingers wrap around the bar. “Keep them there, don't move them or I'll stop. Okay?” 

“Yes, okay, okay.”

*****

They spend three hours testing and retesting all of the mattresses in the store, bickering about which one is the best.

When they get it home they barely get the fitted sheet on it before Caleb is tackling Ben onto it. 

It's better on the mattress. More comfortable. Better leverage. The silk tie Ben uses around Caleb's wrists to keep him to the headboard doesn't leave a mark but the bruise that Caleb sucks into Ben's skin right above his heart was made to last. 

They're so exhausted in the morning they sleep right through their alarm. 

*****

They have a lengthy discussion about what they should do with the bed in the spare room. 

“It's essentially a bed for your parents to sleep on. It's weird.”

“They haven't slept on it yet.”

“Caleb.”

“Oh, so mister let's screw on every surface available to us has finally drawn a line.”

“It's weird.”

“It's no different than what we've done in the shower or the counters or the island or the couch. Nathan sits on the couch.”

“He would die if he ever knew.”

“I can't wait to get drunk sometime and accidentally tell him.” 

*****

The spare bed get left alone. 

They rut against each other against the door instead. 

*****

They talk Nathan into going with them to pick out the rest of the furniture. Ben's been scoping out an antique store with reasonable prices for weeks and they'll need a third set of hands to load everything into and out of the jeep. 

The three of them load up 4 dining chairs, a nightstand, a table for Nathan's spider plans and a kitchen table into the jeep. Ben's been checking the place out for weeks so he knows that the little old woman that works there will not be able to handle the combined charm of the three of them so Caleb gets all the stuff for 200 dollars. 

“I feel bad about haggling with an old woman.”

“Don't. We didn't haggle, she just knocked down the price.” 

“Yeah, because we all blatantly flirted with her like a gang of male prostitutes.”

“Her reaction to our actions are not our fault.”

“You are ruthless.”

“He's very good at negotiating.” 

Caleb smiles wide and Ben bites back a smirk. 

“I don't ever need to know why you two are smiling like that.”

*****

“I'm glad you guys have actual furniture. I was worried you two were going to go the way of my stoner, hippie neighbors and just buy bean bag chairs.”

“We can't do that. Ben's too afraid to try pot.”

“It's not that I'm afraid. It's just that sometimes coach does random drug testing and I'm not here on a scholarship, they'd cut me right away.” 

Caleb kisses his cheek on the way by. “Whatever you say, babe. I'll be right back with the rest of the stuff.”

“You two are disgustingly cute. So, are you officially moved in?”

“I don't know.”

“Wait, seriously? I was joking. All your shit is here.”

“Because I can’t live on campus over the summer.”

“But you’re not moving back.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I have a key and everything but…”

“But you don’t know where you live?”

“It’s not official.”

“When will it be?”

“I don't know. Don't rush us. You didn't even want us together in the first place.”

“That was years ago. Stop throwing that in my face. I'm not trying to rush you I just think it's funny you guys haven't put a timetable on this.”

“We like having our own space….I guess.”

“This place is big enough for the both of you. And you could help out with rent.”

“Why are you talking to me about this? This is Caleb's place, I can't just invite myself to live here.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

“I will kick your ass, Nathan, I swear to god.” 

“So are you living on campus next year, because we can request to be roommates if you want.”

“I don't know what I'm doing next semester.”

“You should probably figure it out. Summer’s going to be over before you know it.”

“I know.”

“I'm just looking out for you.”

“I know that too but you don't need to. We’ll figure it out. He’ll ask when he's ready.” 

*****

Once Nathan shuts the door Ben's pulling at Caleb's clothes. “Get on the table right now.”

“It took him forever to leave.”

“I know. Did we really need the ten minute long lecture about how to take care of the plant.”

Nathan went on and on about the damn plant telling them that a two year old could take better care of this thing. “You barely have to water it. I should have gotten you guys a succulent or some fake plastic flower.”

“Yes, because it's basically dead.”

“We're going to care for that dumb plant like its a kid just so we don't have to hear that speech again, god, get your pants off.”

*****

“Move in with me.” 

Ben drops his forehead down into Caleb's neck. “You heard me and Nathan talking?”

“Yup.”

“You weren't supposed to be listening.”

“Whoops.”

“I don't want to pressure you.”

“You're not. 

“This is a big step.”

“I got this place with you in mind. You picked this place out for me with yourself in mind. I gave you two drawers!”

“It's not too soon?”

“We've been together over three years. I think we're right on track. Plus you can help me with rent and you won't have to pay the school for housing. We’ll go back to Setauket after finals, get whatever you want to bring and move you in. You practically live here already. I didn’t know you were waiting on a formal invitation.”

“Formal is always nice.”

“Listen, after everything we’ve done in this apartment there is nothing formal about us. Did you really think I was going to let you move back onto campus in the fall?”

“I didn’t want to assume.”

“Ben, you can always assume with me. You know me better than anyone.” 

“Okay, come on,” He hops off Caleb then holds his hand out for him to take.

“Where are we going?”

“To the shower. We’re going to give it another try.”

Caleb takes off ahead of him and the water is already running when Ben gets in.

It’s much better the second time around.


End file.
